Maybe people should do some research before blatantly slandering someone:
On the Lies and Harassment Tactics of Martin Wagner and Russell Glasser
This from Yomin Postelnik about the harassment tactics of several atheists, many tied to the Atheist Community of Austin (TX). It was posted on an atheist forum:
As you know, I recently wrote a column about logical proof of the existence of a Divine Creator. In no place did I call atheists evil or even imply it. I simply said youre wrong and laid out some reasons why. Now I understand that you disagree. And I disagree with many columns written every day. But I dont react like this:
After writing the column I was the subject of a targetted write-in campaign. Many people on this forum wrote in to the Publisher asking how dare they run such an illogical column and demanding that they retract it. These tactics are more reminiscient of the communist party and the KGB than anything American. Those who engaged in same should be truly ashamed.
But it didnt stop there!
I also received both a torrent of emails and a torrent of calls to my business from all over the country. Some came from other parts of the world as well. 90% of these were harassing, badgering and profanity laced.
But it didnt stop there either!
One Martin Wagner of atheistexperience posted a post with my name in it 500 times, diriding me a nincompoop, making fun of my name, etc. and then kept googling my name (as he admitted to on an open forum) and upping it so that it comes up second on any search. When I contacted his co-administrator, Russell Glasser, he at first apologized but then later started googling me and writing comments in his full name.
Their website also published my business number and the name of an employee.
Did it stop there? No.
I asked someone who works with me and who saw the scope of the harassment to find out if Martin had done this before and how widespread it was. What he found was that Martin Wagner had a series called the Hepcats and if you go to what he called his official site hepcats dot comicgenesis dot com
, he was offering 3 updates a week and asking for paypal donations, but that no updates had been provided for over a year. This person emailed Martin and confronted him about it. I understand that as a result Martin changed the official site. Martin denies promising 3 updates but its the first thing you see. The only other prominent part are the paypal links. I hadnt gotten a chance to look at it till tonight, but it is shocking.
But then Martin accused me of attacking his wikipedia page. I can assure everyone that I did not. Unlike Martin, Im not a harasser. Just a columnist who gets harassed. In fact, my wikipedia page was minorly attacked by one of his goons, but thats not worth getting into.
I did, however, think that the guy who found the Hepcats info did mess with his wikipedia page. But when I confronted him about it he a) assured me he wouldnt do something that could backfire so easily and b) tonight he pointed out that in all likelihood, as Martin had been moderating my comments, one of his cronies faked my IP and proceeded to write the ridiculous things he attributes to me or my webmaster. This makes sense to me, especially since a few weeks ago, before the writing of the article,
Id been minorly attacked on abouts atheism board and when both I and someone in the office responded, I publicly posted the IP address to show that there were no multiple usernames.
If anyone wants to know the true scope of Martin Wagners lack of honesty (in case the Hepcats story isnt enough), one only has to look at his website where he still accuses me, in the title of a post, from running and hiding from debate (for saying that I cant debate on 50 boards and then offering a transcript of a similar debate that I was in). In fact, on Fri. I emailed him trying to settle this by agreeing to a full debate as long as him and his cronies stop playing games. He didnt publish the comment and keeps accusing me of running from debate instead.
Im not going to sit back and take this outright defamation and onslaught. I reached out to both Martin and Russell several times to resolve this. They instead chose to keep google stalking me (which again they openly admit to), for the express purpose of trying to harm my name and my business (as their cohorts are very specific about in comments that Martin and Russell allow published) and posting derogatory comments all over the internet. Theyve downed positive links on my google search and keep bumping up negative ones and their manipulation of google is constant and ongoing.
If you think that these tactics and this ongoing harassment speaks well to atheists and to their cause, then give Martin, Russell and the Atheist Community of Austin, whos office manager Don called and harassed me twice after an employee called to simply find out Martins contact info to save us from doing a public search. If, however, you think that these tactics are reminiscient of the Bolsheviks and the KGB, then maybe youd like to ask them to backdown before they further harm the atheist cause.
I recognize that Martin is simply a liar, a bully and a thief and that Russell is simply a two faced lackey. I want to see if more respectable atheists believe that this harms their reputation as a whole, something Ive always taken great care not to do.
I am looking to resolve this as I dont like pointing to the examples of some to be reflective of an entire group. Thats why Im asking if theres anyone here who would like to let them know the damage that they are doing to your cause. I would like to see if they speak for almost all atheists or for only the most militant.
And feel free to let Martin and Russell know your opinion of this.
South Florida Columnist Yomin Postelnik Attacked by Atheist Group
A South Florida columnist who recently wrote a column Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound, has received over 200 emails from militant atheists and has found himself the target of numerous forum posts and harassing phone calls. Ask if hed do it again, Yomin Postelnik says, its a shame that people react in the way they do but, yes.
Aside from receiving phone calls at home and at work, Postelnik says hes also found himself accused of everything under the sun by people (hes) never met. He says that while he can understand disagreements based on philosophy or beliefs, he found the level of animosity and accusations to be well past anything hes ever experienced.
Postelnik is no stranger to the political arena, writing several columns and hosting a political blog for years. At one point he also published a small political newspaper. But he finds the latest accusations by hundreds of atheists, stemming from the column, to be beyond what hes ever experienced before.
While initially dismissive of the matter, the number of calls and threats soon became out of hand. He has said that hed simply like to remind people, Thomas Jefferson said he never thought that matters of religion or political philosophy were important in human relations. I would challenge those whove called, emailed and otherwise sent out some of the most crazed accusations on internet boards to act in that spirit.
Bipartisanship and coming together have been strong themes in Americas national discussion. We may yet see the day when such ideals are sacredly held, even when discussing highly charged matters of faith.
